Digital simulation of guidance and control system of an advanced supersonic fighter

Abstract

This paper discusses automatic guidance and control system of a supersonic fighter and presents results obtained from real-time digital simulation of a wide range of problems of practical in terest in optimal aircraft maneuvering. The optimal maneuvers simulated include (1) maximum-range glide, (2) minimum-time zoom climb, (3) minimum-time vertical turns (i.e., loop, half- loop, split-S), and 4) minimum-time three-dimensional turn (i.e., chandelle). The aircraft model used in the simulation is a lightweight, high thrust-to-weight ratio supersonic fighter. Both the off-line optimization approach and the on-line optimization approach are used. The computer used for the simulation is the AD 70, which is a very high-speed special-purpose computer designed specifically for time-critical simulation of very large and complex models of dynamic systems such as the aircraft.